Computer-based transaction systems generate data relating to transactions performed using those systems. These data relating to transactions are analyzed to identify characteristics of the transactions. From these characteristics, modifications to the transactions and/or associated marketing may be suggested, or other business decisions may be made.
Computer systems for analyzing data relating to transactions generally access the data stored in a database. After the data has been collected for some period of time, the collected data is added to the database in a single transaction. As discussed, data stored in the database is analyzed and results are produced. The results obtained from the analysis typically represent an aggregation of the data stored in the database. These results are then used, for example, as the basis for various business decisions and are also often stored in a database.
In some cases, the raw data relating to transactions are not retained in the database after they are processed. Such processing of data relating to transactions generally is a form of batch processing. In batch processing, results are not output until all the data is processed. If, for example, each record associated with a batch were stored in the database in a separate transaction, a significant amount of overhead would be incurred by a database management system associated with the database. Similarly, a large volume of data is read from the database in a single transaction to permit analysis on the data. In many cases, the time between a transaction occurring and the generation of results using data about the transaction may be days or even weeks.